Category Archives: goals

January WIPocalypse Wrap

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, embroidery, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, WIPocalypse by

Hello everyone! It’s a hot & muggy Auckland Anniversary Day here in NZ, and I celebrated the day off by running myself into the ground, lol! Bootcamp, a hospital visit to the MIL, finished loading the trailer then a dump run, dropped a dresser off & finally sat down. My arms hurt, my butt hurts & I really want a nap!

Anyway, let’s get into the Wipocalypse wrap. You can find our group in FB & in wordpress. Click the icon over on the right to be taken to Measi’s site.

My January Goals:

  • Complete the first panel of Jim Shore’s 12 Days (new start)
  • Complete 500 stitches in Fairy Idyll
  • Christmas Ornament FO
  • Disney Cloudsfactory item for Aurora FO

I got EVERYTHING knocked out this month. I’ve stitched every day (although one day was only 39) & made huge progress in big parts of Fairy Idyll. I did avoid any over one, so that helped, but I can’t ignore that forever.I also started Antique Celtic Sampler on a piece of 28ct lugana that I dyed myself. I was going to do it on cream, but this is the fabric MIL chose.

February Goals:

  • Finish the second panel in 12 Days
  • Finish the second panel in Celtic
  • Another 200 over one stitches in Fairy Idyll
  • Walk every day that I don’t bootcamp.

  • The question of the month is about what SALs we are participating in and the current answer is – a big fat NOTHING. Hooray for gap year!

    • SFS is still going for the month, so I’ll update that later. Right now, healthy as.

    WIP Wednesday #264

    Posted in cross stitch, family, goals, me, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, stitching patterns by

    Hello everyone! If you follow my IG, or know me IRL, you’ll know that this week has been a bit off. Hence putting the minced garlic in the dishwasher…

    Stitching wise, I’ve done something every day this month. Quite a bit was done en route or at Hospice visiting Mum, or this week at hospital again with Mum. She only managed three days at home sadly. And right now we don’t know what the immediate future will be. But it is exhausting.

    I want to save the two finishes for WIPocalypse, so here’s my WIP. Elizabeth Foster designed Antique Celtic Sampler, which I’m stitching with the recommended Weeks Dye Works threads, but on my own Mottled Frost lugana (Mum chose this). Despite stitching each cross as I go, it’s still quick.

    Well, it would be quick if I didn’t keep miscounting!

    January 2020 WIPocalypse & Intro

    Posted in cross stitch, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

    Hello everyone! This is my sixth year of WIPocalypse. It’s the most committed I’ve been to any SAL & I put that down to the pressure free, encouraging environment that Melissa hosts. If you’re a crafter, please join up either on your blog or via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers!

    If you’ve not read from my blog before, I’m in my mid-40’s, a working mum to four (ranging from 25-10. I am book-mad, often found stitching & listening to podcasts or audiobooks, and I’m working more in my garden than ever before. We own our home near the base of Auckland’s Waitakere Ranges & can often be found working on it (new deck, gardens & a swim spa were added this summer) walking on the beach or in one of the many beautiful parks Auckland boasts. I’ve been hand stitching since before I was 10, can’t knit an even scarf or crochet to save myself and don’t often pull my machine out (not at all in 2019!!).

    I didn’t do a December catch-up so here goes:

    December Goals:

    • Keep up with weekly #magicalstitches homework YES
    • Plan January WIPs YES
    • No Spend! EH, NO

    With Magical Stitches now finished, I stitched 5439 stitched in December, bringing my annual total to 77051 stitches (which I am certainly NOT counting in 2020!). Most of this was on Shakespeares Fairies, as this is my current favourite to work on, and is now about 2/3 complete after 12 months. I finished the year so far in the red for Stitch from Stash that I am a little embarrassed in myself, and have unsubscribed from a number of emails. This is not necessarily a bad thing; we crafters could all do with less time on the electronic things but a bit of a wake up. My One Little Word for this year is “reset” – and I’m applying it to my crafting as well as thinking.

    January Goals:

    • Complete the first panel of Jim Shore’s 12 Days (new start)
    • Complete 500 stitches in Fairy Idyll
    • Christmas Ornament FO
    • Disney Cloudsfactory item for Aurora FO

    Year Long Goals:

    • Complete all panels of Jim Shore’s 12 Days
    • Complete Fairy Idyll (I bead as I go with this one)
    • Complete Mermaid of Atlantis (which honestly is just the beading to go)
    • Complete the stitching on Shakespeare’s Fairies
    • Complete Tapestry Cat (my oldest WIP).

    Let’s see how I get on!

    Book Review – Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

    Posted in books, goals, growing by

    For 2020, part of my “reset” is to read a decent (i.e. interesting, thought provoking) book a week. Any links will be non-affiliate, as always, and any thoughts are my own. If you’ve got a recommend, send it my way!

    crawdads.jpgBLURB: For years, rumours of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens.

    MY THOUGHTS: This is one that got a lot of hype when it first released, and was on several influencer’s book lists, including Reese Whitherspoon and my fav, Ali Edwards. I should have read it then, but last year I was going for escapism and easy reads. There are some unrealistic aspects to this tale but it is beautifully written and the characters are well thought out and come alive on the page. I was gripped during the middle portion and blown away at the end – it wasn’t what I expected. 5 stars.

    If you are thinking about picking this one up, Amazon have an extract on their US page HERE:

    November WIPocalypse

    Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, WIPocalypse by

    Hello everyone! I hope you’re well. WIPocalypse is the monthly check-in SAL hosted by Measi on her blog, and via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers! Click on the icon to the right to learn more.

    November Goals:

    • Keep up with weekly #magicalstitches homework
    • Finish some CF or Mill Hill pieces

    I managed to keep up with both of the above – 4 Mill Hill finishes (two each of the Celestial Sleigh and Pumpkin Carriage) and four Cloudsfactory items for Aurora’s parcel – Prince Eric, Oliver, Rapunzel & Ursula. All the weekly homework was done, some to the bare minimum, and I got one Extra Credit in. I’ve completely slowed down with regards to stitching.

    December Goals:

    • Keep up with weekly #magicalstitches homework
    • Plan January WIPs
    • No Spend!

    November Question: What new stitches or techniques did you learn this year? The short answer is – nothing. I didn’t take any class or attempt embroidery or anything else. A crochet class or at least the embroidery refresher at Liz’s is on my wish list for 2020, but I wasn’t in the headspace to try anything new this year.

    Stitch From Stash: I am so far in the red I won’t be climbing out this year. Even with a gift from Mum specifically for my stash budget, I have overspent on Miras and fabric that I may not even touch next year, & I’m a little horrified at myself. I have seven FO’s, but they are all relatively small. At least it’s only stash I have spent my feelings on this year, and not all the other things like previous years. Overall, fiscally I’m in better shape than previous.

    October 2019 WIPocalypse

    Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, embroidery, family, goals, lavender & lace, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, WIPocalypse by

    Hello everyone! I hope you’re well. WIPocalypse is the monthly check-in SAL hosted by Measi on her blog, and via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers! Click on the icon to the right to learn more.

    I didn’t set any real goals for October – just to keep up with the weekly prompts in #magicalstitches and try to stay sane. Achieved the first, will debate on the second!

    I managed an increase in stitching with 7841 stitches overall. 1520 in Fairy Tales, 1242 in Fairy Idyll and an FO in the Marauder’s Map (985 to finish) which is now framed and ready to go in Baby Bailey’s nursery. Three of my Saturday’s were spent with Mum, as she can’t be left alone, and as she naps more and more there’s more time to kill.

    SFS – despite having four FO’s I spent well more than I earned, and I’m now $76.72 in the red. If I get a couple of finishes in – or maybe 6 of the Clouds Factory people I’m doing for Aurora – I’ll finish the year in the black, even if I don’t finish the six months. I look at 2017 & 2018 and I can see the same pattern. I think as home and work pressures build, I go off and spend, altho this year I’ve been a lot cleaner than others. Or I was tighter earlier in the year, or Nora didn’t release Mira’s that I really liked earlier in the year. It’s probably a combination of all those things.

    November Goals:

    • Keep up with weekly #magicalstitches homework
    • Finish some CF or Mill Hill pieces

    October Question – Do you prefer to stitch on a rotation or one project at a time? Well, until this year and #magicalstitches I thought I was more a one project girl. But I quite like the rotation thing, so while I’m not going to re-join the group for 2020, I thought I would do a slower rotation (weekly rather than almost daily) and get some FO’s done. I am still toying with Stuart’s clever CYOA version of the Harry Potter books and might also start that.

    WIP Wednesday #260

    Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, family, goals, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, stitching patterns, Teresa Wentzler by

    Hello everyone! This last week has been a bit quieter; the work fiscal month cycles down a notch (plus my boss is away, so there’s less interruption or change to my day). At home Mum has also cycled down a notch, and is now pretty much confined to the hospital bed or the electric Laz-y-boy I brought her last year. I am hoping we will be able to celebrate Christmas together, but expecting that we won’t. Mase decided not to play cricket this summer, and we were too late for summer soccer registration, so he’s doing golf lessons. So cute to watch him carefully line himself up!

    Last week’s #magicalstitches homework was a bit savage – ended up being 1400 stitches required, which is a huge leap from month 1 (which was only 300 stitches in some weeks). I am evaluating what I want to do next year, and as I don’t particularly like the books this group is moving onto, I think I will mute for 2020 and do my own thing, getting my WIP count down to something manageable. I set up a project table, thinking that week one of every month would be a Mira, week two a small, week three a Teresa Wentzler and week four/five free choice. I have 26 WIPs right now. Some are terribly small, like a plastic canvas Clouds Factory Rapunzel (15*24 stitches) and some are massive, like Fairy Idyll (247*309 stitches). 26! Huge shock.

    Anyways. Each of the prompts related to the Pensive and memories, and required 200 stitches. There was a bonus for a photo relating to prompt 5, collections. Mine of course was my Mira wall that hubs is carefully curating.

    1. Purple – I had nothing to hand, so I started two CF plastic ornaments for the gift box I plan to give Aurora – Rapunzel and Ursula
    2. My Best piece – Shakespeare’s Fairies
    3. A project with a house – new start again, the original Home of a Needleworker.
    4. A project with some food item I could give – this one could be controversial – I chose Prancer!
    5. Something I collect – Shakespeare’s Fairies again
    6. Something cursed – I chose Fairy Idyll, as that over one skin has been awful!
    7. Something I don’t want to end – Shakespeare’s Fairies. I love this design.

    Anyway, take care & have a lovely week.

    WIP Wednesday #258

    Posted in cross stitch, goals, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stitch from stash, Teresa Wentzler by

    Hello everyone! Sorry for not posting last week – Wednesday got away from me.

    The last calendar week of August had two sets of Magical Stitches homework – 6 days completed Year Five, and we’ve started Year Six, the Half Blood Prince. There were three potential parts of Y5W9 – we had to post 5 WIPs before the Sunday; then from the Monday stitch 500 on whichever was picked (for Gryffindor it was WIP 4, which for me was Un Ricarmo per Rinascere). The last part was bonus; do 200 on each of the other four WIPs to get a total of 13 points. I managed them all – chose all Nora/Mirabilia so that I’d be fully engaged.

    Y6 day1 was simple – 100 stitches for 1 point on our latest start. Unfortunately I didn’t pick up a needle during that 24 hour period (it has to start at midnight CST time, which is 5pm my time). Too much going on getting the house ready for the week ahead.

    Y6W1 had three parts: 400 stitches in something we’ve made a Vow or promise about (for me, this was Mermaid of Atlantis as I wanted to finish her this year); 300 stitches in a design that starts with a letter in DURSLEY (I did 321 stitches in Un Ricarmo Per Rinascere) & lastly 300 stitches in something that gives us FOMO (the fear of missing out) to note Professor Slughorn’s return to teaching (I did 310 stitches in Fairy Idyll, a design I was so determined to have).

    I’m now at the bead stage with MoA!

    We’re now in Y6W2, and have to choose which path we will take – Light or Dark? We have to write an explanation, do 600 stitches in our chosen path and 400 in the other. There’s a bonus of 200 stitches in our most blingiest project (which for me would be Mermaid of Atlantis, with her Kreinik & beads) but as we are travelling this weekend, I’m going to use my new start & focus on the week tasks and some monthly EC tasks.

    WIP Wednesday #255

    Posted in cross stitch, DIY home, goals, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, stitch from stash, stitching patterns by

    Hello! It’s early evening for me, & I’m snuggled up, watching TV & stitching on this week’s #magicalstitches homework. The challenge is around Professor Umbridge becoming headmaster of Hogwarts, so we have to stitch on something we wanted to quit. Ouch.

    Last week I chose the penalty challenge. We had to link our piece to how we would divert Umbridge & her squad from finding the Room of Requirement and the students who were studying in Hermione’s illegal Defense Against the Dark Arts club, or Dumbledore’s Army, as they became known.

    I chose Shakespeare’s Fairies, making up how they were flitting around the castle, winding up Filch, Mrs Norris & encouraging Peeves to add to the chaos. I’ve just been marked so that story worked!

    I’m now up to the wings & skin of the last fairy, and into the second page. Hooray!

    And on a super cool note, Donovan is SOLD. One more bout of cleaning, lawn & garden maintenance and Si & I are done.

    WIP Wednesday #254 & June WIPocalypse

    Posted in cross stitch, goals, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, stash cache app, stitch from stash, Teresa Wentzler, WIPocalypse by

    Hello everyone! I hope you’re well. WIPocalypse is the monthly check-in SAL hosted by Measi on her blog, and via the Facebook group – we welcome all enablers! Click on the icon to the right to learn more.

    I’m a bit time poor this week so it’s WIP Wednesday as well. Last week I was in Detention so it was 1000 stitches in either blue ink or on words. I chose to make a start on the Emma Congdon/Stitchrovia quotes that match one of my already FFO pieces & knocked that out fairly easily, especially as we had a whole work day waiting on the systems to get back online. It was a loooong day. This current week is in the “too hard” basket for me, so I’m doing penalty stitches on Shakespeare’s Fairies.

    In July, I’ve tried hard to complete each of the weekly #magicalstitches homework tasks, and knocked out several of the monthly EC as well as two Ultimate on Mermaid of Atlantis:

    • Fairy Idyll 2049
    • Mermaid of Atlantis 4692
    • Shakespeare’s Fairies 744
    • Tapestry Cat 1049
    • Pumpkin Carriages 758
    • Stitchrovia There’s Always Time for Tea 230
    • Stitchrovia Shakespeare Quote 1479
    • Stitchrovia Austen Quote 320

    That’s over 10K stitches for the month!

    I also have two FO – I just kept working on the Stitchrovia Tea piece until I finished it. I am not sure how I will FFO it yet. I didn’t count the remaining stitches as they didn’t fit a homework theme at the time I completed them. I did count the ones for Shakespeare Quote, as they worked into one & a bit of the extra credit tasks. That one will be a hoop finish to match the Tolkien quote that is already on my wall.

    Both of these are available in Emma’s Etsy shop.

    July Goals:

    • WIPocalypse One-A-Day with a twist – just stitch every day SWEET AS
    • Hello May HECK NO
    • Don’t spend! DEFINTIELY NO

    August Goals:

    • Complete the Year 5 Extra Credit homework (4/11 to go)
    • Complete Mermaid of Atlantis stitching (seriously possible if the weekly homework goes my way)
    • No Spend!

    Question of the Month: How do you get yourself out of a stitching drought?

    I’ve previously gone with finding a new start, just picking one WIP, ignoring stitching entirely & finding some SAL to check into. It is odd for me to go more than a few days without stitching now but last year there was a couple of sparse months. Right now I’m in a scrap drought that I can’t shake but it will pass.

    SFS: even tho I didn’t manage a no-spend month (needing both DMC & Kreinik for MOA) I had those two Stitchrovia finishes and I’m in the black.